Chandigarh, June 4 (IANS): Trashing Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal's allegations that his government had failed to curb drugs menace, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said it was her Shiromani Akali Dal that was using a grave issue like drugs to divert public attention from their own shortcomings.

Expressing shock at her "brazen lies" and "attempts to cover up the misdeeds of the previous SAD-BJP government with such falsehoods", he said he had repeatedly urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come out with a national drugs policy to tackle the menace and Harsimrat Kaur's remarks had exposed her ignorance of the ground realities.

Not only had his government broken the backbone of the drugs mafia in the state, it had also put majority of the drug smugglers and dealers behind bars, while the remaining few had fled in panic, the Chief Minister said in a statement.

"But obsessed as she is with her own personal interests, the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries had never bothered to find out how many drug peddlers have been arrested and how many youth are undergoing treatment in the clinics set up by his government," he added.